Why should I buy a backpack that's over 200 dollars?

[Cobble]

Nothing worse than an expensive piece of equipment failing you.

Nothing better than a dirtbag piece of equipment wowing you.

[Bronk]

Another thing to keep in mind is this: if you read on here long enough you realize that there is a subset of people here that enjoy shopping and buying gear just as much or more than they do hiking. They've got 3 or 4 of everything and could outfit a scout troop. While others of us never have more than one of each thing at a time, replacing gear as it wears out. Its hard to know what to buy when you're just beginning...which is why I've always been reluctant to spend big money on stuff until I know I really need it. If you really get into backpacking and buy yourself one really nice piece of gear every year you will have a pretty good setup within 3 to 5 years. And then when your stuff starts wearing out you will have a few years experience using your stuff in order to know what to buy the next time around.

[Mags]

While some pieces of clothing/gear can certainly be dirtbagged (a fleece is often just a fleece), packs and sleeping bags/quilts are often worth paying the money for.

The key to intelligent dirt bagging is to know what will work by going cheap and what will work by going expensive.

A cheap pack may work..or it may not. Experience can usually tell what will work based on looking at stitching, your hiking style, etc.

As others said, you may be be better off buying used for now. A high quality external frame is not that heavy really ( ~3.5 lbs) is can often be bought for $40 or less. In ain't "sexy" but it still works for on-trail backpacking..esp if you are on a budget. More mainstream lightweight packs can often be found for sale at Backpackinglight.com. As Bronk said, there are many gear collectors and they are often cycling out their gear. The frugal shopper benefits!

[Del Q]

Six Moon Designs has great packs at like half-price right now........my 20 year old son just grabbed one, think that I will be jealous of his new gear.

[Kenai]

I too am on a tight budget for my 2016 thru hike. I am searching for deals on the internet, researching all my gear, buying used lightweight, quality gear, and shaking it all out on weekend hikes close to home. I just don't have 10K to throw at my trip, but I don't mind going low profile and fixing things to make them work for me. I believe that a successful thru hike is 90% mental attitude, and 10% gear.

[Singto]

Good and serviceable equipment doesn't have to cost a lot. It is more a matter of the quality of the design, materials and workmanship. Paying $200 plus isn't a guarantee of receiving something better than the same type of item costing $100. Normally those companies selling for $200 are paying for overhead including the cost of trying to convince you that their product is good (marketing). I don't worry about how much I pay but rather what am I receiving in return (value). It is however, difficult to ascertain the overall quality of something that you cannot inspect in person other than trying to decipher other people's reviews if available. I hike with a $50 pack (50L, 2lbs, 2 oz), $50 poles (carbon lever locks, 15.5 ounces total), and a $70 sleeping bag (3 lbs, 22 degree EN rated) and do just fine while others are spending hundreds on each of those items. Hiking snobs are very obvious, just ignore them. You want a good inexpensive pack...check out the $35 -$40 Everest on Amazon and then go to YouTube and watch the reviews. No bells and whistles just a solid budget priced pack with good room.

[Singto]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HIMPJE/...ing=UTF8&psc=1

[rickb]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HIMPJE/...ing=UTF8&psc=1

I thought your post was great, but one thing that would make recommendations like this more useful would be sharing your personal experience with the item you are recommending.

Is this pack on Amazon the 50 liter 2.2 lb one you are using?

[Gambit McCrae]

All have brought up good points on this...It is good to see so many others preaching the "you get what you pay for" because its true! you cant expect to pay nothing end get the equivalent of a "$200" pack, or tent, or anything of quality for that matter.

Fun story: Met a life ling friend in NoVa last October, he had walked 1000 miles with a skateboard backpack, ski poles and Wal-Mart sleeping bag. He had learned to just deal with not being comfortable. When I got home I mailed him new treks and a Gregory pack. His trip improved lol. I believe he started his trip with this gear out of ignorance or lack of funds, but I believe people that are willing to be less comfortable by saving money are doing themselves a great injustice. It takes a lot of time and money for most to get to the trail, and once your out there to do what you went to do, your going to subject yourself to
1- Ill-fitted gear that is going to result in being uncomfortable
2- In field failure, I'm sure it sucks when your should strap breaks or the bottom seam busts out of the pack.

People remember Chuckie? lol blue jeans and walkmart tent going to hike 400 miles or so. nope his gear failed. Buy stuff that lasts, and once you have what you need, quit buying gear.

[Dochartaigh]

The other big thing I don't think anybody else has brought up is about how that $40 pack came into being. For the most part super-inexpensive gear like this is going to be Chinese made (or in Asia somewhere, or South America, or Africa, etc.). The design is going to be stolen from one pack, or from multiple packs where they take a bunch of design elements and smush them together. Tons of intellectual property stolen stolen right there from hard working engineers and product designers (even blatantly faked like YKK emblems on the knock-off zippers and such).

It's also most likely (even definitely I'd say) made by a factory worker who is housed in warehouse-like conditions, working super long hours, chastised for even simple things like bathroom breaks, and only allowed to visit friends and family once a year (usually over Chinese New Year). I'm completely generalizing here - but you know for a fact the working conditions aren't anywhere near as good as they are in the USA.

On the bright side, many of those name-brand "expensive" packs could be made in the exact same factory, by the same exact people, that packs by companies like Osprey (Korea), or Gregory (China and the Philippines) are made in so they could be pretty darn good (although *almost* always they're using cheaper materials across the board and quality control is almost always a ton less).

So all that being said, anything that I'm bringing into the wilderness, miles and miles away from the comfort of my car or home, I'm going to be darn sure it's made to the highest quality standards I can afford (even if that "affording" makes me sacrifice in other areas of my life, or perish the thought - waiting and saving some more money!). OR, at the very least, take it on multiple weekend trips with easy access back to civilization beforehand to make sure it's up to snuff before trying some more challenging trips.

[Red Cinema]

reviewed this list of responses and surprised not to see what I think is the obvious aspect of cheap gear; cheap tends to be heavy. it usually costs to go lighter. your pack can weigh 4 pounds, or it can weigh 1.5 pounds. an eagle eye for used gear helps keep costs down; got my Mariposa used (had to wash it, phew! but otherwise in very serviceable condition) for half the cost of new. but packs also like shoes, must work for you, and price no guarantee on fit and comfort. . . . good luck!

[colorado_rob]

reviewed this list of responses and surprised not to see what I think is the obvious aspect of cheap gear; cheap tends to be heavy. it usually costs to go lighter. your pack can weigh 4 pounds, or it can weigh 1.5 pounds. an eagle eye for used gear helps keep costs down; got my Mariposa used (had to wash it, phew! but otherwise in very serviceable condition) for half the cost of new. but packs also like shoes, must work for you, and price no guarantee on fit and comfort. . . . good luck!

Yeah, almost anything in life boils down to something analogous to this little bit of wisdom:

1) cheap
2) functional (does its job and is durable)
3) light (or efficient)

Choose two. You can only get two. Looks like those packs are only one: cheap. Get at least two of these aspects.

Do you need to spend $200 for two out of those three? Heck no. But you might need to spend close to $100.

I've always thought the REI flash pack series was a great deal on a relatively light pack. Here's an example:

http://www.rei.com/product/863031/re...-buy#tab-specs

Do you need more then 45 liters for an AT thru? Nope. check it out. Cheap and light, should be fairly functional too, though not terribly durable.

[chelko]

I spent $300.00 on a Gregory Pack several years ago. Best money I ever spent. I get out about 15 times a year with at least one week long trip in there. I had a pack previously that was $100.00 and thought it was great. By upgrading my pack to one with a good suspension and proper fit it made the whole trail experience much more enjoyable. No one wants to be out there and be miserable and sore because of an ill-fitted pack.

[perdidochas]

My observations are 1) you get what you pay for and 2) if you go too cheap, it costs you more in the long-run, because you end up buying good stuff to replace the cheap stuff you destroyed. That said, occasionally, you can get cheap stuff that works ok, and sometimes the only way you can get into the woods is with cheap stuff (depending on your budget). I think the cheap backpacks would be good trial packs, to use on weekend trips and see how you like them/how well they stand up to abuse.

[rickb]

I spent $475 on a Terraplane once.

I told myself if was great. Too many years since Psych 101 to explain that, but I know I wasn't alone.

'nuff said.

[lonehiker]

I prefer quality on the big 3 (or 4). After that I look for bargains (mostly). I especially look for cheaper clothing items. For example, I use a Frogg Togg for rain/insulation as opposed to those puff things and really expensive rain coats. That saves me literally hundreds of dollars.

All that being said, if I were just getting into backpacking and was a bit unsure on the longevity of this interest, I would see nothing wrong with buying a sweatshop sewn cheap pack. It takes a bit to even understand how you want to pack your backpack. So, nothing wrong with experimenting with different packs. Might as well do it really cheap until you know what features you like then buy appropriately next time. The reality is that most buy replacement gear for reasons other than to replace truly worn out gear.

Next year around April or May you should be able to purchase really good gear cheap. That will be when all the "Walk in the Woods" crowd dumps their barely used gear on the market.

[zeldaminor]

I've always thought the REI flash pack series was a great deal on a relatively light pack. Here's an example:

http://www.rei.com/product/863031/re...-buy#tab-specs

Do you need more then 45 liters for an AT thru? Nope. check it out. Cheap and light, should be fairly functional too, though not terribly durable.

I second this. I have a women's Flash 58 for backpacking. I haven't done a thru-hike and am not currently planning one, but for my purposes it's been great so far and really lightweight. It fits better, is lighter than and gives me fewer bruises than the used Osprey I had been using before that.

[Gambit McCrae]

This really isn't a bad comment, from the view point of most of us that have been in the world of trails for many years, it seems obvious a person should not buy the backpacks originally listed, but for the person that doesn't even know if they like it or not, it would probably be a smart idea to buy cheap first. One rec on that though is at least go on ebay and buy a used, brand name pack instead of the ones listed. I would pick older more worn "in" quality over that stuff from ebay lol.

I prefer quality on the big 3 (or 4). After that I look for bargains (mostly). I especially look for cheaper clothing items. For example, I use a Frogg Togg for rain/insulation as opposed to those puff things and really expensive rain coats. That saves me literally hundreds of dollars.

All that being said, if I were just getting into backpacking and was a bit unsure on the longevity of this interest, I would see nothing wrong with buying a sweatshop sewn cheap pack. It takes a bit to even understand how you want to pack your backpack. So, nothing wrong with experimenting with different packs. Might as well do it really cheap until you know what features you like then buy appropriately next time. The reality is that most buy replacement gear for reasons other than to replace truly worn out gear.

Next year around April or May you should be able to purchase really good gear cheap. That will be when all the "Walk in the Woods" crowd dumps their barely used gear on the market.

[Ktaadn]

I think I paid 70 bucks for my Granite Gear Virga. It was on clearance on the Granite Gear website. It is pretty nice. My advice is to find something that you like and then find it on clearance.

[Tea In The Trees]

I started out with cheap Wal-Mart gear. Truthfully was miserable as far as comfort level, but I learn more my lesson. Both cheap bags I had lasted bout a year at around 40 bucks. I saved and went to rei and got an osprey atmos at. Truthfully I'd say that I go out much more because of how comfy and easy it is to hike with good gear. Yeah it costs, but all things worth doing require sacrifice of some sort.

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